The National tribune., 1887-03-10
FIGHTING THEM OVER
What Our Veterans Have 10 Say Abagg!.
Tnrir Uid Campaigns
FIERCE WORK ATFRANKLIN
Desperate Fighting At aud Near Che OottOn-Gin

Desperate Fighting At aud Near Che Cotton-Gn.
EDITOR NATIONAL TRIBUNE: letter Of
inquiry from Comrade ;. Il. Maynard. 42d Ill,
leads me to write something OF that part OF the
battle OF Franklin ia the immediate vicinity
of the cotton GIN, cast Of the Columbia pike
The Third Division. Twenty thiTd Corps, OCcu-
pied the line east Of the pike, with Gen. Reii-
ly's First Brigade holding the line from the
pike east 10 a short distance east OF the cotton
Gin; then Hcndcrson's Third Brigade 10 the
Lewsburg pike; then Easements Second Bril-
pade 20 the llarpeth River. slight elevation
a few rods south of the cottOn-gin formed at
once the most advanced aud the highest point
on the line. and was justly regarded rs the key
to the Union position. AT this point Bradleys
10Th Ohio lnd'p'D battery of six brass field
pieces occupied a line around the knoll, and
along the spaces between the guns were the
six companies forming the center and left OF
the IO4th Ohio. West OF this the four right
companies Of the l0ath and Tooth Ohio, and
either the Sh Tenn. or 10th KY, the other
lying nc the feet of the men on the line in sup
port and the 18th Ky. armed with Remng-
ton seven-shootels, in support OF the l0ith and
the battery Perhaps a fourth of a mile in our
front was light force from the Fourth Corps,
with our skirmish-line little in advance on
the left
The ground in our front for more than a mile
was open and we were enabled 10 see every
they filed of east aud west and formed six solid
lines of battle and advanced 10 the attack,
forming the
GRANDEsT MILITARY PAGEANT
we ever witnessed. What came near being the
fatal blunder of the day was our forcesiationed
in front holding on SO long that when they did
start for our line the rebels were AZ their heels.
We received orders not 10 fire a shot till our
men had got safe behind the works. The few
who came in through the left of the lO4th Ohio
and ll2th H., who Joined us on the left,
rived before the JOhnnies, so as the foremost
rebel line, under Gen. Adams, reached the
foot OF the breastwork, they were met by such
amurderous FIRE from the battery and the rifles
of the l04th and ll2th, that i'm less time than
IL takes 10 write ii the brave Adams and nearly
his entire right wing were swept into eternity.
Then for a solid half hour every man on the
line was engaged loading and firing as fast as
he could handle bis gun, aud the batterymen
loading with three or four cansters at u load,
ali sending their death dealing missiles into the
surging. desperate mass of rebels in front, who
fell like grass before the scythe" under that
whitening FIRE. Further TO the right, when our
front line had gained the works, the rebels were
swarming over. Orders were given for Wag-
ner's men TO fall back aud form in the rear.
This order was mistaken by some of our officers
and the whole line from the battery TO the pike,
including the Sth Tenn, Tooth and part of the
104th Ohio,
BEGAN TO GIVE WAY
and fall back seeing which Gems. Cox and
Reilly and their Aids rushed 10 the front.
Promptly came the orders from Reilly" Fix
bRyonets Charge!" and before the second
rebel line reached the works our boys had re-
taken them. During the next terrible half
hour they WED with their brothers on the left
In doing terrible execution among the rebels
sMarming in their front.
When our boys recaptured their works they
"gobbed" 900 of the enemy, mostly from
Adamss Brigade, and including the 10th Ala.
almost entire. At dusk, after the broken rebel
columns had withdrawn TO the westward, a
volunteer skirmshline was formed in Reillys
Brigade which advanced TO the bottom of the
slope 70 look after the dead and wounded of our
advance-line. ] was one of these, and j make
no exaggeratiOn when say that for GO rods in
front OF the l04th Ohio and 9th Ohio battery
the ground was literally covered with human
bodies. Ii was with great difficulty we could
move about without trampling them under
foot. j was a witness of the terrible work of
Benjamin's battery aud the 18th N. Y. al Fort
Sanders, where the ground was soaked with
rebel gore; and was over the ground where
leggett's men piled the ground with rebel
slain before Atlanta yet neither of them bore
any comparison TO the ground in front Of the
tooth, l03th and l12th Ill. aud Bradiey's 9th
Ohio battery at Franklin, where
THE REBEL DEAD lay IN HEAPS,
their bodies, legs aud arms crossed and tangled
In incXtricable confusion. Here lay more than
1900 dead and dying heroes the flower of the
rebel army. Next day, when we entered Nash
willie, we carried trophies of the contest %
rebel battle flags, OF which the l04th OHIO had
captured ii and the Tooth Ohio five.
There have been many claims made as TO who
saved The day at Franklin. Some claim that
20 Gen.J S. Easement belongs that honor; others
claim il for Col. Emerson Opdycke and his
"Iigers." j doubt not each aud all did what
came 10 their hands rs soldiers good aud true
But claim had not the men of Relly's Brigade
90 promptly rctallen their works aud stood like
living wall of fire before the desperate rebel
host during that terrible half hour, the day
would not have been worth saving From the
description of the man and attending circum-
stances surmse that the officer on horseback
noticed by COmIade Maynard, must have been
Col Hayes Of the Tooth Ohio. i hope 20 hear
from some members Of the Second Division,
Twenty third Corps, or of Opdyokes men, or
Klmbal's Division on the right. or of Hender-
sons on Easements Brigades, and still others of
Reilly's men, as 10 the part taken by them in
saving the day at Fanklin.-NELsoN A. Pm
EEY, Co. ID, lO4th Ohio, Windham, o.